First year, Apple showed off the original iPhone (2G or 1,1) and iPhone OS 1.0 in January at Macworld 2007, gave us a release date at WWDC 2007, and shipped both together at the end of June. Second year, Apple showed off iPhone OS 2.0 in March at the SDK Event but didn’t introduce iPhone 3G (1,2) until WWDC 2008 in June, and announced the release date for both — the same release date for both — July 11.

This year Apple once again showed off iPhone OS 3.0 at March at the Sneak Preview event, and is rumored to be introducing iPhone v3 (2,1) at WWDC 2009 on June 8. If that comes to pass, we also expect them to announce the release date as they have in the past. But will it once again be the same release date for both?

• Pros: Apple likes big events and big news. Nothing is bigger than simultaneous releases. Apple also seems to like to stick to their patterns, and for the last two years software and hardware releases were one and the same. 2007 saw iPhone 3G alongside iPhone 2.0, App Store, and MobileMe (yeah, we’ll get to that in the cons…)

• Cons: That simultaneous release last year? iTunes went down. No one could activate. MobileMe’s lack of readiness caused months of bad PR. As big a news bomb as it was, it brought the negative every bit as much as the positive.

Frequent reader, Icebike, makes a great case for a staged released in our comments. It lets Apple control the roll-out, manage expectations, and better assure quality experiences for all involved.

But that simultaneous release is just so tempting, will Apple simply charge ahead with it anyway? Should they? Is the Circus Maximus worth the attention, good and bad?

As an iPhone user and potential 3.0 and next-gen iPhone user, what would you prefer Apple do?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Should Apple Release iPhone 3.0 and Next-Gen iPhone on the Same Day?

(Peggle Forum Review by cjvitek For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!)

With all the talk recently about Peggle, I was surprised that it hasn’t been reviewed (although it did get a “quick app” and a pick of the week) so I thought I would download and give it a try. And, well, Peggle has managed to crack my “regular game rotation” that currently consists of only a few other games.

Let me start by saying that as Peggle loads, they took a page from The Sims and actually make you want to read the loading messages.

Peggle is a game based on skill and luck, similar to Pachinko. Your goal is to shoot balls into a pachinko-style board with “pegs”, trying to remove all the orange pegs and blocks within a certain number of shots. You can have various power up abilities, lucky shots or skill shots increase your score, and you can earn extra balls by “saving” your ball as it falls or by scoring a certain number of points within a shot. The enjoyment on Peggle comes from two main factors in my mind - the various power up abilities and the variety of boards.

If you start playing in adventure mode, you are led through the game by ten “masters”, each of whom has a different power up ability. As they guide you through the game, they teach you the details and the best ways to use their abilities. Once you finish with them, you go back through the same levels with the option of choosing the power up ability you want for each board.

The second biggest positive from the game is the variety of boards. You start off with a simple pachinko style board, but they gradually become more and more complex - with bumpers, with moving parts, with time warps, etc. Each level has specific characteristics that make it challenging, so no two levels will be played the same way. As your progress through the adventure mode, you get various trophies to add to your collection (I am currently running through them the second time in “Master” mode).

There are other game modes as well. Quick play lets you choose a level to play by itself. Challenge mode lets you play a specific levle with a specific challenge (beat a certain number of points, more orange pegs than normal, etc). And dual mode is a two play battle where you play on the same board against either the computer or a friend. Unfortunately, the dual mode is a “pass the iPhone” multiplayer so you can’t play via wifi. I was also hoping to see a direct battle where you are both shooting balls at the same time (and can interfere with each other) but that doesn’t happen.

Let me just add, when you finish a level, they play Ode to Joy. There nothing quite like having that blast from your iPhone to actually make you feel like you have accomplished something! The game can be replayed multiple time because the placement of the orange pegs (as well as the various power-up and other pegs) are randomized so your strategy can vary even when replaying the same level!

Conclusion

All in all, this is really a great game. Aside from the few minor wishes I had for multiplayer, I could find nothing wrong with this game, and it has “earned” a spot on my permanent rotation of games. At $4.99, the price isn’t cheap, but it is well worth it for a game that can be played over and over.

Pros:

• Good puzzle/arcade game
• Involves strategy and luck
• Lots of replay-ability
• Has a two player mode
• Multiple play modes

Cons

• Two player mode is only “pass the iPhone”, no wifi

TiPb Review Rating

[100 Sounds is available for $4.99 via the iTunes App Store]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

App Review: Peggle for iPhone

While the iPhone vs. Palm Pre is the current darling of the blogerati (we’re not sure anyone in the mainstream is even aware of it…), we can’t forget that most iconic of rivalries: iPhone vs. BlackBerry. Not when Infoworld has written up the provocatively titled: “Deathmatch: BlackBerry versus iPhone — It's time for us to bury the BlackBerry and move on to modern mobile — even for e-mail”.

In the massive, 8-page-jump article, the author contends that while the BlackBerry still scores points for security, non-Exchange email, hardware keyboard, and lack of good web browsing (for bosses who don’t want their employees using WebApps), the summation states:

For everyone else, the BlackBerry is yesterday’s mobile messenger, way past its prime and heading toward retirement. The iPhone is light-years ahead of the BlackBerry on almost every count. RIM should be ashamed.

Ouch. We’re sure our friends over at CrackBerry.com would beg to differ, but… ouch.

Can RIM fight back with new devices like the BlackBerry Tour and impending Storm 2, or — like Palm with the Pre and Microsoft with Windows Mobile 7 — will RIM have to “spend time in the desert” and come out with a rebuilt, revamped, new BlackBerry OS for the next wave of mobile computers?

[Thanks to Matt and everyone who sent this in!]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

iPhone vs. BlackBerry Deathmatch

Confession: We received reports of this going back last week, but kinda thought it was known the tests were for a limited time (originally scheduled for a week, if memory serves). MacRumors, however, reminds us not to take such things for granted.

So, yep, Apple has completed the pre-WWDC beta testing for Push Notification. Is it enough to make sure the audacious system is as bullet proof as possible, given the severe problems MobileMe’s launch suffered last year?

Hey, we’re just happy Apple did some outside testing at all. (Baby steps and all that). If it turns out they need it, we hope they come back for a second round. As many rounds as it takes, actually. Push Notification has to “just work” at launch.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apple Finishes Push Notification Beta Tests for iPhone 3.0

In what might be the first and most widely accessible bit of WWDC schwag, Lonely Planet has made their San Francisco City Guide free for a limited time. [Usually $15.99 - iTunes link]

Whether you’re going to San Fran for WWDC, for any reason at any time at all, or just want you some free Golden Gated goodness for your iPhone, go grab it while it lasts!

[Via TUAW, thanks to Jamesus for the tip]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Lonely Planet San Francisco City Guide for iPhone: Now Pre-WWDC Free!

Jeremy already passed along the warning from the iPhone Dev-Team on iTunes 8.2. In case you missed it, they told jailbreakers and potential jailbreakers NOT to install Apple’s just-released iTunes update.

According to their latest Dev-Team Blog post, the reason seems to be:

It breaks your ability to use QuickPwn, PwnageTool, and iPhone Tunneling Suite (ssh over usb). We don't think this is a deliberate breakage of these tools. It's just that Apple has updated a low-level USB protocol that normally only Apple cares about (but jailbreakers care about).

Is Dev-Team working on a fix? Youbetcha, but they don’t want to release anything further until iPhone OS 3.0 is final. This may annoy people who have the 3.0 beta, but legit developers probably have more pressing concerns than jailbreaking at the moment, and why would the Dev-Team waste their energy and tip their hand to Apple when the betas will likely keep changing every couple of weeks before release anyway?

Of course, the blogsphere now has another concern, since last week’s announcement that the Palm Pre syncs with iTunes, likely by faking Apple’s USB protocols to disguise itself as an iPod (see Daring Fireball’s take on this as well). There have been two pre-release versions of iTunes 8.2, going back over a month, but the obvious question still becomes: will the iTunes 8.2 final release also effect the Palm Pre sync?

Dev-Team thinks it’s possible:

It may actually break Palm Pre's connection to the device (please give us feedback on this).

We think Palm’s Jon Rubinstein — who used to head the iPod division at Apple — may just have compromising pictures of the iPhone taken during it’s “bachelor” party the night before Macworld 2007 … We mean, it’s got to be something, right?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

iPhone Dev-Team: iTunes 8.2 Updates Low-Level USB Protocol, Prevents Jailbreak, May Prevent Palm Pre Sync?

We’ll avoid the obvious question (why live in a SIM world when you can live in the real one), and the metaphysical (maybe you’re just a SIM in someone else’s iPhone already…?) because, frankly, no one cares! The Sims 3 is — finally! — out for the iPhone and iPod touch:

Play with your Sim using touch and accelerometer controls while exploring stunning 3D open-world environments. Customize your Sim with personality traits and physical characteristics, as you decide whether to fulfill their destiny…or not. Do good or mischief. Fall in love or watch them get dumped. Pick a fight or make a friend. Good or bad, enjoy the ride with The Sims as they experience everything "real" life has to offer. ANYTHING'S POSSIBLE!

If you try it out, and manage to remember the rest of us still exist, let us know how you like the Sims 3 for the iPhone, okay?

[Thanks Andrew for the tip!]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Quick App: The Sims 3 for iPhone

We’re not sure how many pure Windows users are running MobileMe. For those who run Mac OS X, especially multiple Mac OS X machines, the computer sync, Back to my Mac, and other functions make it a far, far better value for the money than a strict Windows environment. However, if you run both platforms, or even if you just love your MobileMe on Windows, Apple has given you a little bit of love today as well. The MobileMe News blog says:

We’ve recently released MobileMe Control Panel for Windows version 1.4. It is recommended for those who use MobileMe for syncing contacts or calendar on a Windows PC connected to a corporate network that uses proxy servers (some corporations use proxy servers to access the Internet). Click here for information on the proxy servers it supports. If you already have the MobileMe Control Panel installed, you can automatically upgrade to version 1.4 by downloading and installing iTunes 8.2. If you don’t already have the MobileMe Control Panel on your PC, see these instructions for installing and setting it up.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

MobileMe Control Panel for Windows Updated

Boy Genius‘ ninjas — Canuck chapter — have gotten their tiger-clawed hands on what looks to be Fido Canada’s 2009 roadmap. Fido, which was bought by Rogers and is now marketed as the budget-conscious GSM brand, carries the iPhone 3G, and if this leak is correct, just might next be carrying:

a 4GB iPhone model that will run for $99 and come with quad-band EDGE, tri-band HSDPA, a 2 megapixel shooter and, believe it or not, iChat video calling

The Rogers/Fido network might support video iChat better than AT&T’s but we can’t see Apple making something as huge as that without doing it global, much less on bigger devices than 4GB…

What do you think, is it real, or is it fakaroid?

[Via Jeffdc5]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Rumor: Fido Canada to Sell $99 iPhone 4GB — With Video iChat?!